‘What I was most scared about was that people would talk about the end and I wouldn’t be able to keep a lid on it.

‘That doesn’t seem to have happened so far.’

Mendes, whose last foray into action was 2005’s war movie, Jarhead, said that he wanted to make sure there was a good story along with lots of action.

He said: ‘It’s just trying to put loud bangs to good use and make them part of the story.

‘There’s a lot of fetishising of action – louder, faster bigger – but the truth is, you can be as big as you want, but if it doesn’t mean anything in the story, you’re going to forget it three seconds later.’

Javier Bardem plays the baddie in Skyfall (Picture: Getty)

He added: ‘You get a real action hero, and you get a man with a sense of style and poise. That’s Bond.’

The director, who made American Beauty and Revolutionary Road, said he was eager to take tips from Craig on what would work in a Bond film.

‘If you’re good, you listen to people, and you listen to people who have more knowledge than you do,’ he said.

‘You use their knowledge to create something that you hope is special. And that’s what it is to make a Bond movie.’

Skyfall, which also stars Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe, received its world premiere last night at the Royal Albert Hall in London and is released on Friday in UK cinemas.